Propaganda, who's to blame?

The Senate voted this week 98-0 to shut down the Bush administration's propaganda machine by banning "government agencies from using taxpayer funds to disguise video press releases as real news." (The 98-0 vote tally was due more to the spending bill that this ban was attached to, but I'm still impressed WV Dem Robert Byrd got it attached in the first place.)

Bush's response? "Don't blame us for lying, blame the media for believing us." Or something to that effect. I have an idea, George: take responsibility for your own actions. If you don't produce fake news reports in the first place, the whole issue disappears. Or maybe try this: don't create policies that Americans won't support unless they're lied to. I know, I know, I'm falling on deaf ears. Telling George not to lie, or not to screw the public, is like telling the sun not to shine.

But George and I agree that the media is partly to blame. Any news outlet that simply passes on press releases unchecked is guilty of betraying a public trust. I don't care what the media company's bias is, they have an obligation to fact-check. If a White House press release says George's prescription drug bill is going to cost $200 billion, but a the Government Accounting Office says it will actually cost $400 billion, that needs to be in the story. America hasn't been getting that kind of responsible journalism these past five years. They've just been parroting whatever the GOP tells them to say.